Page 2: The World Warrior returns
Street Fighter 2 (Arcade, 1991) Story Another World Warrior Tournament is now being held, this time it's sponsored by the sinister organization known as Shadaloo. Ryu and Ken compete in this tournament and now must face a series of new competitors comprising of an Air Force soldier, a Chinese Interpol agent and even a man-monster from Brazil. What they'll soon realize that they'll soon face Shadaloo's leader named M. Bison. Gameplay After the surprising success of Final Fight, Capcom decided to give Street Fighter a second chance. The gameplay of this game has greatly improved with a smoother graphics design as well as a multi-combo system. There is also a huge roster of 8 characters which the player(s) can choose from, each having their own fighting style and personality as well as their own set of special moves. As the fighter defeats the 8 playable characters, the player goes on to face 4 bosses in hopes to win the game. Reception As Capcom gave Street Fighter a second chance, it never looked back. This became an arcade legend and even began the "Tournament Fighting Game craze" with it's multi-hit combo system and birthed many other TFGs which became a symbol of the 1990's such as the Power Rangers and Seinfeld. But, it wouldn't be long before the Street Fight would be taken from the Arcade room, to the living room of people's homes as it became available for the Super NES and the Sega Genesis as well as many other home ports. Fighting Upgrades Street Fighter 2 Champion Edition (Arcade, Late 1991), Street Fighter 2 Hyper Fighting (Arcade, 1992) Super Street Fighter 2 (Arcade, Early 1993) Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo (Arcade, Late 1993) If Street Fighter 2 wasn't enough, Capcom has made upgraded versions of the arcade legend. First it was the Champion Edition which allowed players to play as the 4 bosses which were before unplayable as well as allowing players to choose the same character. Then, it was Hyper Fighting (AKA Street Fighter 2 Turbo) where it featured faster character animation giving the game an added challenge. Then, it was Super Street fighter 2, where it featured 4 new fighters: Fei Long, T. Hawk, Cammy and Dee Jay. Then, there was Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo which featured yet another new character: Akuma. The game also saw the introduction of Super Combos which are advanced versions of a character pre-existing special moves that do more damage. Trivia * Many characters that were introduced in this game went through many concept designs. **Blanka~He was previously depicted as a normal looking human who lived in the Jungles of Brazil and had chains and a neck shackle and was named "Beastman" before he was depicted as a Monster looking character. **Dhalsim~He went through many design concepts. He was depicted as a normal looking man from India and named "Indian" (not to be confused with the native American), he was also depicted as a Many armed being with en Elephant head looking like Ginesha the God from Hindu religion. ** Vega~Vega was originally going to have the design of a generic medieval knight reminiscent of The Knight's Templar, and was armed with a short sword instead of a claw. * Interestingly, Chun-Li was the only character introduced in Street Fighter 2 to keep her original design. **More interestingly, one of Zangief's first names was Vodka Grabalski which is a nod to Vodka Drunkinski which is the original name of Soda Popinski from Punch Out!!!. * Some characters's designs were also inspired by many forms of Japanese Anime, Martial Arts Movies and real-life people. **Guile~His iconic hairstyle is loosely based off of a character from the anime: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. ** M.Bison~He's inspired by the appearance of Japanese actor: Yasanori Katano from the Japanese movie: Tōkyō saigo no megaroporisu or Tokyo: The Last Megalopolis as it takes Yasanori's costume which consists of a high peak hat and glowing eyes. Shoei's art for Street Fighter 2: Special Champion Edition is also inspired by the movie's poster. **Dee Jay~He is possibly inspired by American Martial Arts Champion and Fitness Guru: Billy Blanks. **Fei-Long~A direct inspiration of Bruce Lee. Fei-Long may be created due to the success of Mortal Kombat and it's main protagonist: Liu Kang. *The game itself has some gameplay mechanics trivia as well. ** It's famous Multi-hit combo system was originally thought to be a glitch in the game by developers. The original idea for multi hit special moves (such as E.Honda's Hundred-Hand Slap and Chun-Li's Lightning Kick) would always have the first hit to count and any subsequent hit after that to miss so the player can cancel that move and perform another. They also believed that this would give some players an unfair advantage over others, but the multi-hit combo system was brought back in because the one hit system made the game boring. ** Another radical gameplay mechanic that Street Fighter 2 had was that if a character got hit multiple times in a row, would be stunned for a few seconds. Originally, the stunned fighter would be more susceptible to damage and take twice as much damage from a follow-up attack than that fighter would otherwise. Though this concept would eventually be dropped, but this would remain if the fighter is Ryu. * When Street Fighter 2 was released, the Soviet Union (Zangief's home country) still existed. Ironically, the game's updates (with Super Street Fighter 2 and Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo releasing in 1993) still recognized Russia as The Soviet Union even after the dissolution of the communist government on Christmas Day in 1991